Skip to content
mcp/harbor

Cursor Exa Search company_research_exa

How to: Cursor Exa Search company_research_exa

client:Cursor transport:stdio tool:company_research_exa

Add Exa Search to Cursor

  1. 01

    Open ~/.cursor/mcp.json and merge this in. Keep any servers already there. 

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "<EXA_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}
  1. 02

    Save the file and restart Cursor.

  2. 03

    Ask for something company_research_exa does. Cursor lists the server's tools on connect and calls company_research_exa itself — you do not invoke it by name.

  3. 04

    If nothing happens, check the server is running and that Exa Search's identifier in your config matches the one above exactly.

Use .cursor/mcp.json in a project root instead to scope it to that project. Cursor merges both. Cursor docs

Set these first

Exa Search will not start until these are set, so company_research_exa never becomes available.

  • EXA_API_KEY

Same tool, other clients

Mutating and Read-only are read off each tool's name, not its schema — a hint, not a guarantee. The registry stores tool names only; connect the server for its live schemas.

Exa Search MCP server